The drawings on my sketchbook smear like hell! What am I doing wrong?

[Chris Saksida]

Hey guys, maybe you can help me out with this problem:

I see your sketchbooks and the drawings looks so CLEAN... I bought many sketchbooks and I hate how my drawings smear more and more until they get ruined!!! every time I open them up my beautiful drawings look worse!! I tried using hair spray over the drawings as some people suggested, but it stains the paper, and the drawing keeps smearing anyway...

Maybe it`s the wrong paper? some of these sketchbooks are expensive and they smear the same! I can`t quite figure out what I`m doing wrong...

Any help will be appreciated.

[Andrew Sonea]

I hate smearing too. I find that the spiral-bound sketchbooks are the worst for this. The paper is quite free to shift, and it rubs a lot. For this reason I much prefer using sketchbooks that are bound like a book. I also avoid using soft pencils. I have never used any hairspray, but have used workable fixatives that you can buy at any art store and they have worked fine for me.

[QueenGwenevere]

Are you drawing pictures on pages that face each other? If you do, they're all too likely to rub all over each other and smear...

I generally draw on one side of the paper only, so each picture is faced by a blank page. This seems to work for me. Also I usually use sketchbooks with fairly thick , somewhat textured paper, I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Also, are you carrying sketchbooks around in a way that might make the pages get rubbed against each other a lot? (Like, if it's sitting loose in a bag in such a way that your leg rubs against it when you walk, or it's in a back pocket that you sit on, or anything like that?)

[JeffX99]

Yeah - that's pretty much it - the hardbound won't allow the paper to shift as much as the spiral bound. And workable fixative is a lot better solution than hairspray I'm thinking - back in the day people used to say "Aqua-Net" hairspray was about the same - but I've never used it. Don't know what else to recommend - I usually like quite a bit of smearing which provides some tone I can erase highlights out from.

[OmenSpirits]

use a harder lead pencil. HB is a soft/hard blend. us a 2h or 3h.

[arttorney]

Use ink.

[Chris Saksida]

...You guys nailed it: the problem is the SPIRAL BOUND!! it`s so obvious now that I think about it; all my sketchbooks are spiral; QueenGwenevere talked about drawing on only one side and it`s a good tip, but I love the look of the sketchbooks that have both sides filled with drawings... and I can definitely recall that every sketchbook I saw that had drawings on both sides were hardbound, awesome, thank you!

JeffX99 you`re right maybe the hair spray I use is not a very good fixative, maybe another kind works better.

OmenSpirits I use HB mechanical pencil, I used 2B before but they smeared even more, I would spend like 10 hours on a drawing and it would gradually turn itself into a big messy stain of graphite.

[Psychotime]

Keep your hand off the page.

[Falchion]

You're either drawing too lightly or too heavily. Personally, I've been using ridiculously hard leads as of late to make that less of an issue.

[JeffX99]

I generally only draw on the right hand page and have lately started gluing or taping in reference images on the left hand pages. Trying to make my sketchbooks more of a tool than some kind of precious things.

[OmenSpirits]

OmenSpirits I use HB mechanical pencil, I used 2B before but they smeared even more, I would spend like 10 hours on a drawing and it would gradually turn itself into a big messy stain of graphite.

2h not 2b. 2b is softer and will smudge. 2h is harder and won't smudge as bad if at all.

[Chris Saksida]

Well, I think they are two kind of sketchbooks, the "utilitary sketchbooks" and the sketchbooks that are done as a piece of art in themselves, I like to put a lot of care in my sketchbooks and fill them with only high quality very finished stuff, if something looks bad I erase it, I take them anywhere and sometimes people say "wow, can I see?" and thare is not a single bad drawing in it, for utilitary sketches and stuff I prefer to use spare cheap print paper.

[ponderponder]

Buy a real fixative spray, might be expensive Idk, it's better than hairspray. If the fixative leaves stains, you are most likely spraying too close. Spray from an angle and coat it 2-3 times.
You could also tape some chalk paper between pages with tesa if you like to draw on both sides. Tho it could still smear a bit from the chalk paper if you use 3-6B's heavily without fixative.

[Raoul Duke]

Buy some white cotton gloves. Cut the index, middle finger and thumb off the glove.
http://www.calumetphoto.com/resources/images/products/c2d0bf119d3349188ab5df778abd2189.jpg

[Black Spot]

Well, I think they are two kind of sketchbooks, the "utilitary sketchbooks" and the sketchbooks that are done as a piece of art in themselves, I like to put a lot of care in my sketchbooks and fill them with only high quality very finished stuff, if something looks bad I erase it, I take them anywhere and sometimes people say "wow, can I see?" and thare is not a single bad drawing in it, for utilitary sketches and stuff I prefer to use spare cheap print paper.

There's your problem. I was at the Waterhouse exhibition at the RA last summer and his sketchbooks were certainly smudged. The word you should focus on is 'sketch'. It is not meant to be the final thing. If you want that, have loose sheets and file them as soon as they're drawn if they are so precious.

[Chris Saksida]

Have you guys ever saw Andrew Jones, Kevin Llewellyn's sketchbooks?? they are fucking beautiful works of art!! I want to keep that kind of sketchbooks.

ponderponder thank you! I`ll keep that in mind.

Raoul Duke, I did something similar and they are quite helpful... but they look a little strange to use them outside lol, I just use them at home.

[JeffX99]

I can relate Chris - I tend to keep two kinds of books - rough ones and "presentation" ones that I am a little more careful with. Partly though it motivates me to work that much harder - and just shrug off the bad stuff - we all do a lot of bad drawing along the way. I also occasionally do some pretty erotic stuff in my SB and I've had people want to see those books - I paperclip those pages together!

Edit: There are some great sketchbooks out there for sure - James Jean also incredible.

[Raoul Duke]

You can also hide your smears, by using kraft paper. Android and Llewllyn smear their work. It's just a part of their technique, so it doesn't hurt the image. You need to let smearing work for you. It's the only way you can get mid tones. In the end you lift the high lights with an eraser.

[JeffX99]

You can also hide your smears, by using kraft paper. Android and Llewllyn smear their work. It's just a part of their technique, so it doesn't hurt the image. You need to let smearing work for you. It's the only way you can get mid tones. In the end you lift the high lights with an eraser.

Yup - use it to your advantage!

[hunchback]

use a fixative.

hairspray is cheap and they have some special stuff in the art stores thats a bit more pricey.

[vineris]

I think "presentation" sketchbooks work better with media that don't smear, like ink and watercolour.

[theking13]

What i do is i buy transparent sheet books ( its a book with lots of transparent sheets ) and place my work in it. Like that no smearing :) ! And you can show them nicely to your ppl :D